4/01/2004 02:38:00 am -
Reported by
Shaun Lyon

As has been rumored over the past several weeks, Michael Grade, the former controller of BBC1 and later of Channel 4 and the man who put Doctor Who on an eighteen-month hiatus in 1985 after the twenty-second season, has been appointed as the new chairman of the BBC. Grade, who has never withheld his contempt of Doctor Who and who, in fact, in a 1999 interview said he would have killed it off permanently if he'd had the chance, was originally touted as one of the handful of finalists chosen by Culture secretary Tessa Jowell. News from today's Financial Times indicated that Grade was expected to be named today, and apparently BBC Radio 5 announced on their 11:30pm news broadcast this evening -- a report confirmed by BBC Ceefax, by the BBC's political editors -- that the choice had indeed been made for Grade to take the role of BBC Chairman, and that the Friday morning papers would confirm this. Update 2 April, 0030 GMT: BBC News confirms the announcement; the Guardian has also printed the story.

Outpost Gallifrey has been reliably informed by several people that the role of chairman is not involved in the programming or day-to-day operations of the BBC channels, and at this point there is no danger expected toward Russell T. Davies' new Doctor Who series production which has been advancing since last September, so any fans concerned that the new series will be canceled shouldn't worry!